


Lost Souls: Witches Be Crazy

by NessieFromSpace



Series: Lost Souls [4]
Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Jack is still shoes, Jack makes an appearance, M/M, Rhys dies but he's immortal so he comes back, Salem Witch Trials, Witch Rhys, graphic depictions not super graphic but still bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-06-06 03:00:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15185261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NessieFromSpace/pseuds/NessieFromSpace
Summary: The town of Salem is not the paradise Vaughn and Rhys expected.





	Lost Souls: Witches Be Crazy

Rhys had thought America would at least be a little easier than England, but he'd been wrong. Everyone was just as suspicious and horrid. Especially this new town called Salem. Rhys and Vaughn had settled down as brothers, but they had immediately felt something was off.

They could sense the other witches, but by their extremely, polite and private manner, they knew there would be no way to communicate to them. They were even more subjugated and afraid and it picked at Rhys’ nerves and made his hair stand on end. There was something sinister about this town, like a silence that was building into a storm. Rhys and Vaughn spoke less to each other as the days passed on, sharing glances and nods instead.

Finally, one day they heard a commotion, the first sign that something was happening. The town gathered around the square, cheering and jeering. “KILL THE WITCH!”

Rhys gasped and threaded through the crowd to the front. He covered his mouth and glanced at Vaughn. The dragon’s eyes were assessing and sad. On a table, lay a woman under a large plank of wood. Two large rocks sat on top.

“Confess!” The town's preacher called loudly.

“But I'm not a witch! I'm not! Honest!” The woman cried out in a strangled sob.

Vaughn and Rhys could see plain as day she wasn't a witch. The preacher called someone over, who hauled a large rock and dropped it down in the board without care. She let out a harsh cry.

“No way,” Rhys breathed. He eyed Vaughn pleadingly. “Vaughn!”

Vaughn lead Rhys away. They walked on the edge of town and quietly into the woods. “What do you have in mind?” Vaughn asked quietly. “We can't bust in there and prove they're right. It'll be awhile before she's dead, we have some time.”

Rhys shook his head. “This is just terrible! We came here to have peace, but it's all the same!” He wiped tears from his eyes. He found a log to sit on. “I just don't understand. Every day, every moment is _so_ precious, _so_ important _so temporary_ , but all they want to do is harm each other! Why help another along when they can just beat them down instead!?” He grunted then, laughing dryly. “Or crush them!”

Vaughn sat down next to him. “I don't pretend to understand humans, but you've shown me not all of them are bad.”

Sniffling, Rhys smiled. “Yeah. It's just really frustrating. I'm only immortal because of the cruelty of others, but I am also immortal because of the kindness of another.” He wiped his eye free of tears. He smiled at Vaughn, nodding. “I'm better now.”

“Good,” Vaughn smiled. “We have a lot of work to do if we're going to start smuggling these women out.”

That made Rhys smile. “You know me so well.”

The dragon stood and stretched. “You _are_ predictable. Once you save one, you won't be able to stop.”

“I'm glad to have a friend like you.”

Vaughn smiled. “And I, you. You've made life interesting.”

They walked in the thick forest, a place of fear for the townsfolk. They planned their escape route, where they would take the women, where the women would stay while they recuperated. Vaughn shifted, returning to his glorious dragon form. He flew off in search of sanctuary. Rhys returned to his home where he pulled his never ending bag out. The leather was old and worn and as immortal as Rhys was. It held herbs from his childhood, safely dried and stored. There were herbs even older than that, from its previous master- his master. It was his oldest companion, even older than Jack.

Rhys smiled. “I wonder what you'd say, Jack? Would you help me, or try to make me stop?” His lids lowered. “Or would you just try to kill me again?” Jack hadn’t pinched him in over a hundred years and Rhys almost wondered if he’d lost his mind and had actually become a pair of shoes. He sighed and focused on preparing for Vaughn's return. He needed to find a way to send a message to the women who needed help after they save the woman tonight.

Vaughn returned as the sun set with a location for refugees. He and Vaughn ventured out to the square where the crowd had dwindled to nothing, only a lone guard. There were several more rocks on the board and the woman seemed to be asleep. Vaughn nodded and Rhys wrapped his cloak around his face. He approached the guard and then collapsed into him.

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” He coughed. “I’ve been traveling…” As the guard helped him stand, Rhys blew some dust into his face.

“What!?” The guard coughed and tried to shout, but his eyes fluttered shut and he fell like a ton of bricks. Vaughn was taking the rocks off one by one. They were light for him and he made quick work while Rhys kept an eye out. Only when Vaughn pushed the board off her did Rhys relinquish his task and ran to help. They got the woman onto Vaughn’s back and wrapped a cloak around her, shielding her identity.

Heart beating in his throat, Rhys tried to look as nonchalant as he could, keeping his own cloak well over his head. Passersby looked at them suspiciously, but with packs on their backs, they looked only like travelers going through the town. They heard a commotion from the square and knew others had been alerted. It took all Rhys had to keep his pace steady.

It was agony, but they made it to the forest. They strapped the woman onto Vaughn’s back and he turned into a dragon once more. Rhys waved him off and then made his way back home, shoving the cloak into his enchanted sack and hiding it again. He was just tending the fire for the stew he’d prepared when he spotted guards heading his way. He waited until they called for him before going out.

“Yes?”

“We’ve come to warn you, a witch has gotten loose.”

His eyes widened. “Is this the truth?” He shook his head. “Thank you for the warning. I will inform my brother at once.”

They nodded and left for the next home. Rhys did not sigh in relief, only went back to tending his soup. It was too dangerous now, everyone would be on high alert He needed to think of a message and how to spread it around without it and himself being discovered.

* * *

It had all worked perfectly. All the witches and innocents accused of witchcraft had been saved just in time. There had only been one small, tiny hiccup. They had caught them rescuing the last accused innocents.

In desperation, Rhys spewed a bunch of gibberish at the innocent woman and pretended to stab her. He glared at them. “Idiots! There was and has ever been only one witch!” He smirked, glamouring into the woman he’d posed as before traveling to the New World. He cackled loudly.

“Witch!” Vaughn yelled, pulling the innocent woman away from view. Rhys could trust that Vaughn could take care of the woman. Rhys had put her in a sleep and she would wake up in a day’s time perfectly healthy.

Meanwhile, Rhys took off in the opposite direction. “I’m not going to let _anyone_ take my credit! You all are denser than a rock!”

They made chase, easily taken by Rhys’ show. He lead them through town, his mind reeling on how he was going to stop all the madness. As he lead them in circles around the village, he realized there was only one thing he could do. They’d always search for him now that they knew he could become anyone.

He sighed and turned in a different direction, one that would lead him right to others that hunted him. They cornered him easily, beating him to the ground. They kicked him, spitting on him and cursing him. The pain rippled through him, numbing his brain. He was immortal, but not free from feeling pain. He let his mind drift away from reality to a dark place with no light. A place with no pain. He sighed in relief.

“Rhys,” a commanding voice called to him. Jack stood in front of him, angry and clutching his shoulders. “Rhys what in the name of all that is unholy are you doing?”

“Jack!” Rhys gasped, his eyes wide. “How…”

“Forget how, why aren’t you fighting back!? You can crush them where they stand!” He was as intense as Rhys remembered, his multicolored eyes beautiful and calculating. “Why are you just letting them hurt you?”

Rhys took hold of Jack’s strong arms, pulled into the memory of them holding him. He frowned. “I… Have no choice…”

“The hell you don’t!” He shook Rhys. “Fight back! Don’t let them treat you like this! You have the power to stop them!”

He looked at Jack, a sad smile silencing the vampire. “No, I can’t. If I fight back and get away, it won’t stop them. They’ll keep looking for me and this time, everyone will be suspect. They’ll kill themselves out of madness.”

Shaking his head, Jack bared his fangs. “Who cares? They’re not worth your life!”

“ _They_ aren’t, but the innocent people who want nothing to do with this are. I can save them, Jack, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

“No!” Jack gripped Rhys tightly. “I won’t let you do something so stupid!”

* * *

Vaughn would tell him later that the townsfolk had an extremely hard time dragging Rhys to the top of the cliff to a tree with strong limbs that hung over an empty riverbed. His feet seemed to be heavy with rocks, dragging in the ground and making trails. It took twice as many men as it should have.

Rhys came back to consciousness with the hard slap of a hand. He could barely see out one eye and could not open the other. His body ached, chest seering as he tried to breathe. He wheezed, feeling his shoes tighten and pull away from the tree, but Rhys was much too weak to move.

“You have been found guilty, witch! You will be hanged.”

Rhys coughed, bright red blood splattering over the dirt. It tore his throat up and set fire to his insides. They forced him to stand and he found an ankle broken. He rested on his better leg, almost toppling from shooting,stabbing agony that rippled everywhere. They shoved him to stand right, making him fall. He felt a hard hit to his gut, but it only blended with the rest of his injuries. They yanked him up again and this time he was held roughly, beefy hands squeezing his arms, biting into his wounded flesh.

He was just barely coherent when they slipped the rope over his head and pulled it taught. He could feel his feet anchoring him as they tried to push him to the edge. “The wench doesn’t want to die!” One laughed. They kicked Rhys’ broken leg, but Rhys was already slipping into unconsciousness.

    Vaughn would describe later how Rhys’ feet kicked long after his body had ceased to breathe. The villagers would curse him and threaten to set him on fire, but in the end, they left Rhys hanging with the cursed feet that moved.

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr: http://nessiefromspace.tumblr.com/  
> My Borderlands/ fanart tumblr: http://nessiewithink.tumblr.com/


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